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Google To Block Piracy-Related Terms From Autocomplete
An anonymous reader writes "Google is making changes in the way it presents web search results to try to exclude links that may be tied to pirated content. In a move enthusiastically praised by the RIAA, Google says it will not include terms closely associated with piracy from appearing via autocomplete. The company acknowledged that it can be hard to know what terms are being used to find infringing content, but 'we'll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose.'"
I can see this directly leading to Google becoming very slightly less popular for search. There were many good reasons to use AltaVista back in its day..
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
Of course, but they are just pulling it from auto-complete, not search. Now surprise considering that typing "Despicable Me" would magically have torrent behind it. This is just moving the hookers from the street to the alley.
Now they will have to actually type out their coppywrite infringing query. Well thanks alot google for making illicit deeds slightly less convenient.
This move makes them look like a lapdog shill. The bigger they get, the more they are learning they have to play ball with the politicians and mafiaa in order to please the other plutocratic overlords. Moves like this help them stay out of the legal crosshairs and keep friends in high-places (back scratching deal making kind of places).
Seriously, since when is linking to data crime! It seems like we are seeing more and more stories with asshats lawyers and lobbyist and congressfucks who think this way. God forbid hosting it, but linking to it? Get real. Idiots.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
Google search is basically a shopping catalog now. Here is where you go when you want INFORMATION:
lets see what will win. pagerank (tm) or freedom of information and knowledge.
Ooh, ooh, I can answer this one. Pagerank(tm). Easily.
I quit using Yahoo back in the day because it impinged on my give-a-damn. Too many ads, not enough do-what-I-want simply, quickly, or silently. Google's bare bones front page was exactly what I wanted in a search engine.
Is there any sort of replacement for Google in that same vein? A bare bones search engine I can set as my home page and expect not to be impinged on by irritants like someone else deciding what I may search for?
Also, does it mean anything for the non automated search function of Google's HTTPS feature?
..because I find Google Autocomplete to be bloated and annoying. Many of the changes they've made to their basic search page are bloated and annoying, too. I shouldn't have to wait for some javascript crap to load up and run just to do a basic web search. The new image search is OK though.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Google's famous for proclaiming that their policy is to not be evil.
They're associating strongly here with the RIAA and MPAA, organizations which are widely considered to be evil, and making decisions based on their input.
I'm not going to say flat-out that Google's being evil, and breaking their ethics policy, but if you lie down with pigs then you may well come up covered in mud...
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
All they need to do is block all major movies and records and artists from autocomplete.
In fact, they should remove them from search results altogether--why, that would send the MAFIAA into paroxysms of joy, right?
expandfairuse.org
Actually - I'd love it if Google Took this approach.
Google: Okay. We've done as you've asked, we removed references to piracy in autocomplete, now wheres our money?
RIAA: What the hell? I just entered "Iron Ma" in there and the 3rd thing on the list is "Iron Man 2 Torrent".
Google: Yeah but notice if you enter "Jolly R" - there's no mention of Jolly Roger anymore.
RIAA: That's not exactly what we were looking for...
Google: -And if you enter "Blackbea" - no mention of blackbeard anymore...
RIAA: Okay okay. We get it.
Google: And this! "Rubber chicken with a"
*RIAA storms the room*
This seems pretty reasonable; when you search for the name of a popular movie (for example), " torrent" is almost always one of the top autocomplete hits, and the results you get from that are usually garbage or worse. There's probably a ton of people getting trojans and viruses, or scammed, by these sites by mis-clicking. They're not making it any harder to access this stuff intentionally, they're not being filtered from the actual search results.
This will be a successful plan because Google's previous blocking of pornography-related terms from autocomplete was a spectacular success at preventing people from finding pornography.
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
Guys, Google's not changing their search results. Just words that show up in autocomplete.
So if, for example, you start typing "call of duty 7 cra", it's not going to offer "crack", but it will offer "crazy", "crap", etc. Anyone looking for a crack is going to take the extra second to type it out and press enter. This isn't actually going to deter anyone.
I love it when people get upset at the "information wants to be free" adage, but I don't even think it's very wise. The real kicker is that, thanks to Internet, information is in fact free for most intents and purposes. The risk of getting into trouble is absolutely negligible, and it will only get smaller as the pipes get thicker and copying gets cheaper. And they will get thicker and cheaper, even though Internet's performance level is already obscene when compared to the time most of us were born into.
It won't even affect it - It's only autocomplete, not the search itself.
Basically all this means is that the freeloaders (I prefer not to use the term pirate) will need to type 'torrent' manually instead of having it pop up magically. Big deal... given the lengths some of them go to already an extra eight keystrokes (including the space) isn't going to dissuade them one bit.
Google can't magically stop people using the terms outright as it would affect a lot of other searches as well. For instance, someone searching for a water torrent stock photo... Google isn't doing anything to affect that.
AltaVista didn't even have autocomplete, IIRC, and they've not said anything about it changing search results at all.
I just tried "keelhauling", "scurvy", and "buggery" and all were auto-completed just fine.
sic transit gloria mundi
So any links containing the terms "arrrr", "matey", or "ye scurvy dogs" will now be blocked?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
shopping shopping shopping!
no kidding.
I search for specs or schematics or howto's and I get "BUY ME!" crap links.
I search for datasheets on chips and I get junk china sites claiming to be able to get any part I want. (fake ones from china, sure...)
its really hard to get real content from a google search now. and we've been slowly conditioned (cooking the frog) to accept that the search results are dumbed down more and more over the years.
google's day in the sun is over. they do have name recognition but no one really belives, now, that their search is any better than any other.
the auto-complete, bouncing text and blinking things only drive the nails in the coffin down harder.
when you need a pre-processor to a search site, you know they lost their mojo.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
I like the way you think, but I see it a little differently.
Google: Okay, we've done as you asked and removed piracy-related terms from autocompletion.
RIAA + MPAA: Excellent!
RIAA + MPAA: What the ...? I typed "iron ma" and the only thing that came up was "iron magnets"? Where's "Iron Man" or "Iron Maiden"?
Google: Oh, those terms often came up in searches performed by pirates, so as you requested we removed them from autocompletion. In fact, we went even further and removed them from the search results entirely! Aren't you happy?
RIAA + MPAA: *fuming*
Filter out keywords. Do your search with: -buy -purchase -price -shop
It would be really nice if shopping sites could all be on .com and useful informational stuff could all be on non .com domains, but that's as likely to happen as unicorns flying out of my butt.
Wow, thanks.
I actually rarely ever type anything in Google's search box. I use a Quicksearch set up in Firefox instead and just type "g " in the address bar. It just occurred to me I can add the "-buy -purchase -price -shop" as part of the bookmark the quicksearch runs off of and get those terms added to pretty much all my searches automatically now with no change in my searching behavior. The bookmark simply becomes http://www.google.com/search?&q=%25s+-buy+-purchase+-price+-shop